To think that a RECEPTION teacher shouldn't have said this ???

[AutumnalPumpkin]

My daughter goes to a catholic school (it was the only school available to us) we are not a religious family, but it does not bother me that she is being immersed in religion. After all, she will only make her own mind up later in life anyway. But this is relevant.
They use god in almost every part of the day, and in all aspects of learning.
As those who are not religious will know, we and a lot of others view god as "made up" or a myth, if you will.
Now this brings me to where I have a problem - her reception teacher has picked up on some of the class talking about unicorns. A typical 4/5 year old thing... and has proceeded to tell them that Unicorns, fairies and dragons etc are all made up, and do not exist.
This is absolute insanity to me!!? They are 4/5 and all have wonderful vivid imaginations.
We regularly take my daughter to "the fairy forest" and she immerses herself into it and tries to find clues to where the fairies could be hiding, and loves to think that at nighttime all of the magical creatures come out to play.
She's now come home saying that it's all untrue and they are made up.
I'm actually really upset about this.
How can you push the belief of god, and they go all out for Santa etc. but actively shut down the belief of magical creatures ??

Catholic school: unicorns and fairies aren't real, but Jesus is.

My child's school: a girl can actually be a boy, and it is possible that you, who are a girl, might actually be a boy.

Pick your poison.

I am seriously considering a transfer to a religious school for my child.

The OP has said there are a lot of Muslim children in school. Plenty of them won't be doing this

@nancypowers1983 thank you for this insight. I really appreciate it. Especially after lots of comments that are leading me to believe I am just going mad 😆

OP If I were you I would consider looking at that other school again and potentially getting your daughter in the waiting list if there ain't currently space. You seriously sound like you are doubting sending her to the catholic school. As a teacher who has previously worked in a school that was in special measures you cannot get a proper feel of the school from the Ofsted report. Ofsted visit for two days and have usually got an idea of what grading the school is getting before they arrive. They look for evidence to support their point of view. However many schools in special measures have better quality teaching because they are actively trying to improve things whereas other school 'coast' along with substandard teaching but because of the area the schools is in they get good or excellent results. It is worth having another look. Ask for a private tour as a prospective parent.

@RedLolly101 - obscene bribery, or gifts on a special occasion?
Are Bar/Bat Mitzvah gifts also obscene?

All school are required to have a daily worship of a broadly Christian nature. Even non religious schools.

So maybe it's just a regular primary school then.

@stargirl1701 it's actually not near us, but if it was it looks like a brilliant option

@Rinoachicken oh yes. It certainly does and I have learnt this the hard way. They pray between 4-6 times a day!!!
I truthfully did not realise this at all

Exactly!

It does what it says on the tin.

By reception age I would not expect any child to believe in unicorns or fairies.
They are at school, not babies!

@Tryingmybestadhd and that would be final straw , may as just homeschool at this point 🤣🤣

@radiantorange That is very cool actually. I think she would appreciate this information

@gotomomo it was the best better rated one and closer one out of 2. We live in a city. Why are schools harder to come by here ?? Beats me

@IlonaRN maybe I can just send her in to school with Halloween bows in her hair and go from there 🫣

As an aside, there are mentions of unicorns in the KJV of the Bible, but they do not appear in later versions as they were a mistranslation of the Hebrew and (as I recall) it’s now written as ox.

YANBU. There was no NEED for the teacher to tell them this.

3 times a day at the very strict, traditional catholic school my daughter attends. Oh and a Halloween party at the end of half term in October too.

You let your children think dragons are real? Wow.

Is it possible to opt your daughter out of the religious activities?

I ended up in a convent school for a couple of years as the nearest alternative was a 2-hour drive away. There were a handful of us non -catholics and we were never required to participate. I actually don't remember ever setting foot in the church on site. Despite it being a convent "god" was actually never referred to in the actual school work and I personally would not want my own children to be subjected to a constant barrage of religion, regardless of which one it was.

Who is going to break it to the teacher that God doesn’t exist, sorry?

How disappointing! I was hoping for a moment that there were unicorns! 😊

Yes, of course all these gifts of money is straightforward bribery, because how else are they going to get youngsters to go along with all the nonsense?

Were kids offered similar financial incentives hundreds of years ago to join a religion? Back then, it was all done on the basis of punishment and fear, which would be a bit more difficult to justify these days, although a lot of the teachings appear to be fear based.

I think this would depend on the individual teacher. I had a teacher at my Catholic school who had recently stopped being a nun, she'd tell us celebrating bonfire night was anti catholic, anything patriotic was countered with mutterings about Cromwell, Halloween was out. She also was always telling us what a great man Jimmy saville was!

Unicorns are not real, believing in mythical creatures is not a protected characteristic. Being catholic is, and if you challenge this, you're directly being phobic to their religion- which is not a good idea.

Take your kid out of school if you think they're being lied to or harmed.